Soaring food prices hurt local charity

An Albemarle County charity that finances an orphanage and school, as well as a neighboring medical clinic, in Haiti is facing a monthly shortfall in the thousands of dollars because of escalating food prices.

In the past three months, Dr. Raymond F. Ford’s nonprofit has seen the price of a bag of rice jump from $28 to $52.

“It’s an urgent situation,” he said. “We need money to feed these people.”

Ford, retired from Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville, used an inheritance from his father to found the Robert Ford Haitian Orphanage and School Foundation in 2003. Located in Grison-Garde, Haiti, the locally operated orphanage houses some 50 children, while 400 children are enrolled in its primary and secondary schools. Each day, every child is provided with a meal.

Yet the expense of the meals is rising at a staggering rate. A few months ago, roughly $5,000 of the program’s $9,500 monthly costs went to food. Now the monthly food costs have increased to $8,500.

“I don’t want to sound desperate, but we’ve got a big problem,” Ford said.

Food prices are rising around the globe because of higher fuel and energy costs, a growing demand from developing countries and because of disastrous weather events that have destroyed crops, according to the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

At the end of February, the WFP estimated that it would need an additional $500 million to cover the soaring cost of providing food aid to hungry nations. Since then, that figure has climbed to more than $755 million. The WFP is expected to provide food to 73 million people in 78 countries during 2008.

At the Haitian school and orphanage, the program has been forced to scale back its offerings to keep up with the climbing food costs. A project to house and feed homeless adults was temporarily scrapped.

Ford, who visits the orphanage and school five times a year, always brings along $3,000 worth of food to distribute at a nearby clinic where he volunteers. Since food prices began their climb skyward, however, Ford has found that he can buy only half as much as before.

“The average family income in rural Haiti is $1 or $2 per day,” he said. “When a bag of rice costs $2, it’s almost impossible to get by. You’ve got a country that’s hungry and is getting hungrier.”

Anyone wishing to make a tax-deductible donation may send a check, made out to the Robert Ford Orphanage, to Dr. Raymond Ford, 3522 Red Hill Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903.

More information can be found at http://www.fordhaitianorphanage.org.